When I was at school, the GCSE that I had to work hardest at was Maths. The subject inspired no motivation and little understanding in me. The lessons, the homework, the revision and the exams all felt like a trial to my schoolboy self. Cos, sin, tan, ratios, numerators, pi etc.: it just wasn’t my cup of tea (though I quite liked drawing bar charts).
What made it even more painful was that I knew I had to pass it if my formal education was going to advance as I wanted it to. Fortunately for me, through the sweat and the tears, I managed to pass and since the age of 16 the only thing I miss about maths is colouring in those bar charts - though I could do that as a hobby, I suppose.
Technology, thankfully, is now better placed to help learners who feel the same way about the subject as I did. Online learning brings new tools and methods.
Our long term client, Competence, provides an app that helps learners, teachers and assessors across a whole range of subjects and professional learning environments (the military and professional football to name but two).
Among the many features of Competence is the provision for courses to be taught exclusively through the app. They had devised a course for those school leavers who had not yet achieved a GCSE pass but who needed to achieve a formal Level 2 qualification in Maths in order to progress towards their desired career.
Competence asked us to provide video content that would help support the learner’s journey on this interactive course.
Thankfully for the learners (and me), the content had been written by experienced teachers and specialists in the subject. It was our job to turn their written content into video clips.
One of the real benefits of the app is that it allows learners to go at their own pace knowing that all the information they need is there for them, literally at their fingertips. The clearer we could make the concepts, the greater the chance of keeping the learners motivated and informed.
One priority for us was to make the video clips visually appealing: clear and colourful.
We used an animated presenter to address the learner directly. Diagrams, motion graphics, animations and equations explained the more technical problems.
We used footage to evoke a sense of the real world to exemplify how maths helps us to work out, for example, the best route on a map.
We wanted the visuals to make it clear that skills learned through maths are valuable and can help people in their work and their day to day lives.
The use of language was also important. The teacher/writers had provided content that was complete with the right detail and was not over complicated.
It was our job to reflect this in the end product. An underscore of music provided an ambient background that enhanced the learning mood.
Personally speaking, this project inspired a deep commitment in me not only because I value education as highly as I do, but because I could so easily sympathise with the learners.
When at school, I was amazed by the ability of those for whom an understanding of maths was clear and straightforward.
Helping those who are more like me and who need extra support, was a great opportunity that led to a deep professional satisfaction and fulfilment. It's always a great feeling when doing a little bit of good.
‘Competence’ has created a first class course that is in high demand. Please take a look at the highlights reel to look at some of the techniques and methods we used in the video sections.
See how we do it: send us an email to hello@shortstories.media if you would like to discuss your next film project.
